Fiona, who has worked with Matt Thomson for a number of years, supplements her own grapes with fruit from other growers in Marlborough and Hawkes Bay. The tinpot hut that gave its name to Fiona's wines is an old mustering hut in the remote hills between the Wairau and Awatere Valleys. The huts were used as a base for musterers as they rounded up the sheep that had been in the hills from spring to autumn. The name links Marlborough's past as a sheep farming centre with its current state as one of the world's most dynamic wine regions.

Vineyards

Around 40% of the fruit for this wine is sourced from specially selected vineyards in the Blind River sub-region with the balance coming from the rich silty soils of Dillon's Point in the Lower Wairau. The Wairau fruit imparts ripe tropical flavours, whereas the fruit from the Awatere Valley has more of a mineral and crushed fresh herb character. This blending of flavours gives a balance between herbaceous and tropical. All vineyard parcels are kept separate in the winery prior to blending post fermentation.

Vintage information

The 2015 growing season was characterised by a dry spring and summer and a short, mild harvest. Lower yields due to cooler weather during flowering have produced wonderful fruit intensity.

Vinification

The fruit from each vineyard was independently monitored and harvested before being carefully pressed to ensure minimal skin contact preventing juice deterioration. Once settled, the batches were cool fermented in stainless steel tanks using specific cultured yeasts to add complexity while retaining the fresh fruit characteristics from each of the individual vineyards. Shortly after blending, the wine was prepared for bottling under a screw-cap closure.

Tasting Notes

A complex and elegant wine with intense aromas of blackcurrant, crushed lemongrass and thyme, mingle with passionfruit and melon highlights. On the palate, underlying ripe fruit and mineral notes from the grapes grown in the Blind River sub region of Marlborough combine well with the more tropical notes of passionfruit and melon from the Wairau Valley vineyards. A stylish and pleasingly rich Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with vibrant aromatics and a fine balance of acidity leading to a lingering finish.

Vidal Estate’s legacy began in 1905 when pioneer Spanish winemaker, Anthony Joseph Vidal, chanced upon the stony ground of a small property in Hastings. With its alluvial soil and dry climate, it naturally offered him growing conditions similar to Spain and he worked tirelessly to develop the estate and promote the taste of Europe in the New World.

Today the team at Vidal continue to make lauded wine that honours the European style established by their founder and this regional winner marks their fifth Decanter award. Guided by a desire to produce fragrant, concentrated, textured wines within a restrained framework, Vidal strive to add as little as possible and take nothing away.

This is achieved through a deep understanding of their vineyards and climate. Marlborough is home to markedly refined Sauvignon Blancs boasting depth and complexity balanced by freshness and pristine fruit. Daytime warmth ensures richness, cool nights preserve acidity and naturally high levels of the key flavour compounds guarantee that distinctive tropical, herbal, grassy profile. In addition, Vidal work with fairly low soil fertility and ‘green harvesting’.

Each parcel is picked, fermented and aged as distinct batches, preserving the potential for soil, climate and seasonal detail to come through in the finished product. The 2015 growing season in Marlborough was near perfect, combining ideal climatic conditions with naturally low yields.

Timely picking to capture flavours and acidity in the early phase of ripeness enabled Vidal to ensure restraint and freshness in this award winning Wairau Valley Sauvignon which delivers superb concentration of flavour and a little something extra.

The classic herbal notes have been kept in the background as winemaker [insert name] explains, “we love the pristine fruit profile and typical freshness but at Vidal we also love complexity; complexity adds interest. It isn’t added; we are just keeping it in”.